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About this project

Cornerstone is an open world action adventure, with an emphasis on exploration and combat mixed with physics and player choice. A game inspired by The Legend of Zelda games and Dark souls.

The world is structured similar to Wind-Waker with a series of islands connected within vast ocean, almost every areas is accessible from the start. The main method of transportation between islands will be by Ship (and don't worry, there will be fast travel).

We’re aiming for an art style that invokes a sense of wonder but at the same time has the ability to charm your socks off. Stylized geometry with simple textures but with realistic rendering, and of course inspired by Viking culture.

For More detailed Pledge information, check out bottom of this page!

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Over the past years the realm of Nygard has grown unstable ever since the Viking warriors went missing. To the east, the Gou-Hai empire expands as emperor Ju-long assembles an army. His wife the beloved empress “Mei-ling” has fallen fatally ill and Ju-long claims the Vikings are to blame.

The western kingdom of Himalu has become the source of many strange rumors of human sacrifice and the use of forbidden magic, the young Sun queen “Zemitara” is said to be at the center of these events.

The Muavi brothers in the south, Mamba and Vasabi, sons of the late great chieftain Jaja Muavi have come upon hard times, the threat of civil war is looming. The mokaga dessert is a dry land and the source of their water supply is running low, without the trade from the Vikings the tribe’s future is uncertain.

The remaining Vikings consists of mainly women and children, having very few means with which to defend themselves. Living under the growing threat of invasion from the “Empire” and other menacing factions, their only hope of survival is the ever more unlikely return of the lost viking warriors, unless…

Tyrim lives on the Borjana island with his mother Alma and his younger twin
siblings Vida and Birka. His father has been out on an expedition with the rest of
the men of the village, leaving the elders, women and their children behind. No one
knows where they are since they have been gone for several years.

Things in the village are starting to fall apart and there is no one
who can help. (This is where game starts) The boy is insistent to go find the lost ones
but the villagers are keen on keeping the few remaining they have left. And of course
Tyrim is far too young for such an adventure; the village is barely holding
together.

Cornerstone
encourages exploration! You will find it both necessary and rewarding to
explore your environment. When you explore, you will discover useful tools and
abilities to help you on your upcoming challenges.

Game progression won’t revolve around
increasing stats and gathering XP or anything "farmy", we feel these
systems don’t reward exploration or creativity.
You will explore the world in a nonlinear way, the challenge won’t be in
the numbers.

This means that most areas
will be accessible from the start, but some are more challenging than others
before you have got the appropriate equipment. Scavenging will be a minor part
of the game... we don’t want to enable any “OCD loot whoring”

The boat
will be more than just a simple vehicle that takes you from A to B, for that reason we have
added things like a harpoon, a bank and even a garden to replenish health and
restock you with seeds. As with every other aspect of the game (that makes
sense) the boat is also physics based and can be used as a battering ram
into other things.

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The combat
will be challenging and discourages ”button mashing”. All different enemy types have unique
behavior, it’s your job as the player to discover and exploit the patterns in their
behavior.

The environment can also be an enemy as much as an ally if you learn to take advantage of it. Things like high ground vision, pre-existing traps, and tight spaces all come into play. Enemies can take advantage of their surroundings as well, they can throw objects, tear down structures and surround you.

One
on one combat is challenging in and of itself but enemies are rarely alone or
isolated. Getting into a fight without a plan will probably be your death.

In order to focus the combat we added an optional “lock on” (like Dark
souls and Zelda) system that makes the one-on-one combat feel tighter and more
like a duel.

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Although
tactical combat is a cornerstone of the game, we also want to put a heavy
emphasis on exploration and problem solving.

This is where our crafting system comes into play, instead of having a
complexe inventory with a bunch of items you barely ever use, we've decided to
cram all that complexity into a simple crafting system. This means you will
have to choose from your limited resources, which in most cases will get the
job done. Furthermore it enables us to build an intuitive layered world that
you can explore at your own leisure and find your own solutions instead of
the... find key... find lock... find key... find lock... approach of certain
games that we will not mention...

The base materials will be:

·Wood

·Iron

·Wool

·Flammables

The Basic resources can be applied and Increased in various combinations
to create different Objects. For example, to create an explosive barrel you
will have to combine materials such as:

2 Iron, 4 wood and 4 flammables

If you increase these amounts the object will transform further, in this
case the explosive barrel will become bigger and more powerful.

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We
have given a lot of thought to the questing. Looking back at our own
experiences, we felt that a nonlinear game should have a nonlinear
storytelling. After the introduction of the game you need to find out what
happened to the men in the village and find your father.

This means that as you sail from island to island you come across pieces
of the story in a nonlinear order, and once you have enough knowledge you can
progress to the next phase of the game.

Quest contents:

Most quests will involve multiple activities such as combat, puzzle
solving, crafting, tactical platforming, traveling and also just using physics
to interact with the world. We want to pace the game so that you long for
certain types of game-play instead of getting tired of them.

The
game will feature very few isolated puzzles, instead we try to blend the
puzzles with the rest of the game like; combat, exploration and crafting etc.

Most puzzles will be found in dungeons, hard to reach places or just
simply closed of areas and will always have a reward at the end. The hardest
puzzles are optional... so you won’t get stuck.

There are also some smaller secondary puzzles in the world that will be
completely optional, just to add some variation to areas and make them more
interesting.

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Bosses
in Cornerstone can be defeated in more than one way, anything else would be
inconsistent with our design philosophy. This means not trying to hit the
glowing red spot “X” amount of times, we want you to have room to develop your
own tactics.

This also means bosses won’t have a ridiculous amount of health, we
don’t want the difficulty to lie in the numbers.

Pledges

Add-On Pledges

To include an Add-On with your pledge, please do the following: Visit this page and select the Manage Your Pledge button. Increase your pledge in the Pledge Amount box by the Add-On cost. DO NOT update the tier you are currently pledged at, or you will then need to add the cost of you Add-Ons to the amount of the NEW tier.

When the Kickstarter campaign concludes you will receive a survey that will allow you to indicate that you paid for these Add-Ons.

We are going to deliver the most awesome game of all time! we're
hoping to get out on markets like "Steam" / Desura / GamersGate.

What happens if we exceed our goal?

We will create a Denser world with higher production value and a longer quest
line, in other words. More adventure!

What happens if we don't meet our
goal?

We won’t be able to do this full time, we'll be going back working
part-time jobs! :(

What's the Funding for?

We need the funding to be able to turn this project into our full-time jobs. we're still going on minimum salary since we wanna put all the money into this game!

Also:

- Engine, Platform, and additional licensing costs.

- Music and Sound Design budget.

- Illustration and art cost.

- A marketing budget

Risks and challenges

As a team we have been working with the Unity 3D engine for over 5 years, so using our time efficiently is not our main concern. It’s rather the areas were our expertise is lacking, mainly high quality music and art. So in order to make the quality game we all desire, we will be forced to outsource these tasks, which requires money. So hopefully your support will enable us to do this.

Pledge $25 or more

Pledge $25 or more

I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT! - - - You'll receive the the soundtrack + digital copy of the game + closed beta + mentioned in credits.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $30 or more

23 backers

SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME! - - -
Access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + mentioned in credits + digital copy of the game + closed beta.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $40 or more

12 backers

The ARCHIVE! --- Digital Art book with developer notes and other secrets!! also Access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + mentioned in credits + digital copy of the game + closed beta.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $50 or more

16 backers

THE DIVISION! - - -
(all digital) 4 full game copies + 4 closed-betas + 4 acess to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + mentioned in credits

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $50 or more

9 backers

The CONNOISSEUR - Digital Art book with developer notes and other secrets!! Also access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + mentioned in credits + digital copy of the game + closed beta + digital soundtrack.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $60 or more

9 backers

MY NAME!!!!! --- *KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE* Your NAME in the game! Carved into the ancient wall of The First Ones. Also Access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + mentioned in credits + digital copy of the game + closed beta.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $75 or more

4 backers

THE GAMER! - - - You'll receive a physical copy of the game Access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback, also mentioned in credits, digital copy oft he closed-beta.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

Pledge $90 or more

8 backers

THE EXPLORER! - - - You'll receive physical World map+ the physical copy of the game + also Access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback, also mentioned in credits, digital copy oft he closed-beta.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

Pledge $100 or more

13 backers
Limited (7 left of 20)

THE SMITH! - - - Design a game item/builing or prop (no penises!... unless they're hidden!) (all digital) + the full game + closed-beta + acess to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + your name mentioned in credits

Estimated delivery:Jan 2014

You selected

Pledge $200 or more

9 backers
Limited (1 left of 10)

I KNOW THAT GUY! - - - Design your own game character with dialogue and backstory that will be added to the game
(all digital) + the full game + closed-beta + acess to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + your name mentioned in credits

Pledge $300 or more

0 backers
Limited (5 left of 5)

THE MONSTER! --- Design an Enemy!! (all digital) + the full game + closed-beta + access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + your name mentioned in credits.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $500 or more

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

THIS IS MY LAND! --- Design an secondary island as much as you want within guidelines that will be added to the game (all digital) + the full game + closed-beta + access to a private forum were you can directly influence the creation of the game, and give feedback + your name mentioned in credits.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $1,000 or more

1 backer
Limited (4 left of 5)

THE ULTIMATE PACKAGE! --- THE PLEDGE TO END ALL PLEDGES! With this pledge you will get everything above in this one package. Check the chart at the bottom of the page for more details. (Excluding The Producer pledge).

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

You selected

Pledge $2,000 or more

1 backer
Limited (2 left of 3)

THE PRODUCER! - - - This is the most awesome part. Those who get this spot get to work on the game with us on all levels, like ; game design, scripting, music, lore, marketing, 3D art, concept art, level design, and all the rest of the amazing parts of creating a game. Long story short, you will basically be a team member throughout the development.

Estimated delivery:Dec 2014

Funding period

Sep 26, 2013 - Oct 26, 2013
(30 days)

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